1. The unemployment rate in Oakland plummeted 2.6 percent last year — the steepest drop in the Bay Area, the San Francisco Business Times$ reports. Oakland’s jobless rate dipped below 8 percent — to 7.8 percent — last month for the first time since the Great Recession. Just two years ago, in January 2013, the unemployment rate in the city stood at 13 percent. Oakland’s rate, however, still trails those of other Bay Area cities, including San Francisco, which has a jobless figure of just 4 percent.

Rebecca Saltzman.

2. The BART Board of Directors will consider at its next meeting a proposal to drop demands that #BlackLivesMatter protesters who shut down the BART system on Black Friday pay $70,000 in restitution, the Chron reports. The proposal is being sponsored by director Rebecca Saltzman, who represents Oakland on the BART board.

4. State Senator Mark Leno of San Francisco plans to introduce legislation today that would require e-cigs to be treated like cigarettes in California and subject to public smoking bans, the Chron$ reports. Critics of the bill contend that e-cigs do not pose the same health risks as cigarettes.